On Friday Marquette faced Big East rival Seton Hall in a heated match at the Al McGuire Center. Although game one started slow, the Golden Eagles turned up the intensity in games four and five and recorded a 3-2 victory on Senior Night.
The Golden Eagles struggled with team unity early and lost game one 30-24.
"First game we started out a little rough," said senior Theresa Coughlin. "People were kind of all over the place. It got a little intense in a negative way, but we cooled that down and we got the rest of the game. And the rest of the match went pretty smooth like that."
Marquette recovered from the initial loss and ramped up the energy in game two.
Senior Kim Todd in particular turned up her play by recording eight kills in the second game. Coughlin and sophomore Monica Renfrow added five and four kills, respectively. Overall Marquette hit a match-best 35 percent, while Seton Hall hit 25.6 percent in game two, nearly half of their 50 percent hitting in game one.
The Golden Eagles reversed their mild and meek defensive tactics of game one and turned to forceful offensive maneuvers in game two. By playing aggressively, Marquette rebounded with a well-earned victory of 30-25 in game two.
"In game one, it was very quiet and kind of timid," said head coach Pati Rolf. "We don't play well that way. We are better just going after them and them making mistakes, rather than tipping a lot of balls. We just changed the game where we attacked hard and we got up and hit hard, and that's what this team does well. And that helped us."
Seton Hall came back in game three, shooting 47.1 percent and beating Marquette 30-24. But the Golden Eagles remained positive in team spirit and combative in play. In game four, the Golden Eagles secured the first four points and refused to back down in a poor-hitting game. Marquette shot a match-worst 20.5 percent, but Seton Hall hit an abysmal 4.2 percent and Marquette's energy led them to a 30-26 win.
"The energy level started getting just higher and higher," Coughlin said. "Towards the end we were just so excited. We knew we were going to win. We just had to get the points in order to prove that we were going to win. So I think that the intensity and the energy and the excitement and the love were just there."
In game five, the Golden Eagles completed their comeback. Todd delivered six kills and the team worked together to close the match with a score of 15-12.
Todd's play was not only a huge advantage over Seton Hall on Friday, but she also set a new school record of 35 kills. For her efforts Todd was named Big East Player of the Week for the second week in a row.
"Kim Todd made a big difference here tonight," Rolf said. "Big hitting and big attacking by her. Overall, good play by everybody. But we needed somebody to really step it up — and especially in game four and in game five Kim Todd stepped it up."
Although game one did not immediately indicate an aggressive approach, the Golden Eagles proved to be a tough competitor by the end of the night.
"We became a very aggressive, very intense, and emotional team and that's why we won," Rolf said.
"And then that's why great players like Kim Todd stepped forward and had great plays. The team had just much more energy and fire, and then that related to other players really stepping up the game and Kim Todd having the match of her life tonight."
The victory against Seton Hall was Marquette's fifth in a row and crucial for the Golden Eagles. It improved their record to 15-10 overall and 7-5 in Big East play. The victory also put the Golden Eagles into eighth place in the conference, one game behind St. John's and Villanova. But the win meant much more to the team than statistics can show.
"Especially in sports and especially in people in young sports, if you lose a big game like that it can really have an effect on your soul because you start to doubt yourself," Rolf said. "This again shows them that they are capable of winning, that they should be winning, and that they are great fighters and they are coming back."